Updating an already downloaded podcast feed

Question

So, I have a podcast feed in the RSS 2.0 format and it works fine.

What I would like to be able to do is rearrange the items in the feed, or even add data to items. The problem is that these items have already been downloaded into my podcast app.

Is there anything I can do to the xml file to trigger the client to refresh the feed and bust out of what has already been cached, besides deleting and re-subscribing?

Answer 1

There isn't an element or flag you can send to tell feed readers or podcatchers to remove or delete an already downloaded (or cached) item.

You can send an updated item if you change the <guid> field, which will cause readers to see it as a new item to download or fetch.

You can also update the entire contents of the item and readers may or may not (depending on their settings) replace it on the user's side, essentially "deleting" it in a sense with the newer or corrected version.

Alternatively, if you switch to sending out with an Atom feed format, there is the <updated> element, which tells readers when the item was last updated, but again, whether or not the reader downloads a fresh copy is up to its build/settings.